The present invention relates to illuminated keys in mechanical keyboards.
There are many different types of keyboards. Some well-known keyboards are capacitive (non-mechanical) and mechanical. Mechanical keyboards include membrane (rubber dome) and metal contact (with a spring) keyboards. Membrane keyboards are used for lower profile keyboards, and have a rubber dome that is depressed to actuate a switch. Other mechanical keyboards use a spring mechanism. The spring sometimes takes the form of a scissors mechanism. Mechanical keyboards are often used for gaming, for example.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a prior art Cherry™mechanical key switch for a mechanical keyboard. A spring 102 is mounted in the center below a plunger/actuator mechanism 104. Off to the side are vertically arranged wire contacts 106 and 108 which are opened and closed by a member 110 as the plunger moves up and down. Not shown is a keycap mounted on top of plunger 104.
Illuminated keyboards can illuminate the keys, in particular the letters, numbers or other indicia on the keys. This has been done with light guides, or with LEDs in the keys themselves. An example of a light guide approach is in Shipman U.S. Pat. No. 7,283,066, Muurinen U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,060 and Chiang (Darfon) U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,612.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a prior art illuminated key from US Published Application No. 20140168936. An LED 202 is mounted on the side of a scissors structure 204 supporting the keycap 206.